RE: How Do You Say "Fuck Off" in Greek?
July 6, 2015 at 6:23 am
(This post was last modified: July 6, 2015 at 6:24 am by pocaracas.)
It is now settled, the NO won.
Greece will not undergo the reforms called for by the creditors in order to pay off their debt...
A debt that has been shown to be unpayable...
Also, those reforms tend to affect the middle/low classes, while the upper classes keep accumulating wealth. Not to mention some ludicrous military purchases that the troika insists must not be canceled... why?... because that money would go to some other european country...
In the meantime, all the austerity measures implemented in the past few years have managed to bring greece's GDP down by ~25% within one decade.
![[Image: Greece_Real_GDP_growth_1995_Mar_2015.jpg]](https://images.weserv.nl/?url=bilbo.economicoutlook.net%2Fblog%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2015%2F05%2FGreece_Real_GDP_growth_1995_Mar_2015.jpg)
(note that the image says "growth", so the accumulated negativity is huge and it's a percentage from the previous year's GDP)
But Forbes disagrees:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/timworstall/...unpayable/
I couldn't care who's fascist or who's a communist... the fact is that the measures imposed by the creditors are only doing worse.
Of course, the greek government could maybe do better... I've heard of many factors that keep people living off the state instead of producing something... like the pension of someone who worked as a public servant goes on being paid, after his death, to the children of that public servant, as long as they don't get married (meaning that they keep living with their parents, huh?).
The thing that comes out of this whole sordid affair is simple: both the greek government and the creditors have their very selfish agendas and can't compromise on the really important parts, preferring to deal with privatizations and get-money-quick-schemes like increase VAT that will only lead to further problems, down the line.
What they need is an impartial party detailing what must be done... this greek government seemed to be as impartial as it could get... but is still too partial... but power corrupts, we all know that.
Greece will not undergo the reforms called for by the creditors in order to pay off their debt...
A debt that has been shown to be unpayable...
Also, those reforms tend to affect the middle/low classes, while the upper classes keep accumulating wealth. Not to mention some ludicrous military purchases that the troika insists must not be canceled... why?... because that money would go to some other european country...
In the meantime, all the austerity measures implemented in the past few years have managed to bring greece's GDP down by ~25% within one decade.
(note that the image says "growth", so the accumulated negativity is huge and it's a percentage from the previous year's GDP)
But Forbes disagrees:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/timworstall/...unpayable/
Quote:the IMF has not said that Greece’s burden is unpayable. Quite the opposite: it’s said that only if Greece doesn’t take its economic medicine is that debt unpayable. The actuall conclusion is that if Greece does what it should do, run modest budget surpluses, not do anything too extreme to damage future growth (which means some supply side reforms that Syriza really don’t like), then that debt can be repaid.Oh, no, it agrees.... "not damage future growth"? The growth that's already damaged due to all the policies implemented thus far... -.-'
I couldn't care who's fascist or who's a communist... the fact is that the measures imposed by the creditors are only doing worse.
Of course, the greek government could maybe do better... I've heard of many factors that keep people living off the state instead of producing something... like the pension of someone who worked as a public servant goes on being paid, after his death, to the children of that public servant, as long as they don't get married (meaning that they keep living with their parents, huh?).
The thing that comes out of this whole sordid affair is simple: both the greek government and the creditors have their very selfish agendas and can't compromise on the really important parts, preferring to deal with privatizations and get-money-quick-schemes like increase VAT that will only lead to further problems, down the line.
What they need is an impartial party detailing what must be done... this greek government seemed to be as impartial as it could get... but is still too partial... but power corrupts, we all know that.
